-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- They were outside every polling station I visited in Cairo : earnest young men bent over laptops on rickety tables , checking names and ID numbers against voting lists , explaining to people where they were supposed to vote , and , in light of Egypt 's wildly complicated electoral system , how to vote .

Scattered around the tables between the laptops were pamphlets and fliers for candidates of the Freedom and Justice Party , the newly established political wing of the once banned but now free and unfettered Muslim Brotherhood .

`` Who does n't want freedom and justice ? '' a middle-aged man asked me approvingly as I leafed through a pamphlet over at one of the tables in the working class Cairo neighbourhood of Sayida Zaynab .

The `` help '' at the polls was just the tip of an organizational iceberg that may well ensure the movement emerges victorious from the first , critical round in Egypt 's first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections .

Egypt awaits election results

Both the movement 's leaders and rank-and-file are now quietly confident their moment is fast approaching . They have , after all , been working -- methodically and patiently -- to achieve it since the movement 's founding in 1928 in the city of Ismailia , on the Suez Canal .

They 've come a long way since then -- occasionally operating openly , other times hounded by the police . Shortly after Hosni Mubarak was ousted , the movement was legalized . Journalists can now jettison the tired old phrase `` banned but tolerated . '' The Brotherhood is unbound .

The movement is well entrenched in mainstream Egyptian politics . Its leaders do not appear to be wild-eyed fanatics . Most are highly educated -- doctors , lawyers , engineers , professors , and businessmen -- and come from solidly middle-class backgrounds .

Some western observers see the Brotherhood as a sinister , secretive society , feigning moderation and democracy in public while in private embracing an extremist , totalitarian , anti-western agenda . The movement 's Egyptian opponents frequently describe the Brotherhood as sheep in wolves ' clothing .

Its members endured decades of persecution by the authorities , going back to the days of the monarchy . In the 1930s and 1940s the Brothers were accused of assassinations and bombings - although the Brothers always publicly rejected violence as a means to political ends . The secrecy that alarms some Egyptians may have simply been a necessity to function in an environment where the secret police , the mukhabarat , and their army of informers were watching everyone . But who knows .

Whatever one thinks of the group , it is skilled at building broad popular support through its extensive network of charities and social services , and stepping forward in emergencies when the state has failed .

In 1992 when an earthquake in Cairo left hundreds of the city 's poor homeless , it was the Brotherhood who quickly mobilized to provide food , blankets and medical care . The government 's reaction was criticized as slow , late , and clumsy . In 2006 , when a ferry sank between Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea port of Safaga carrying more than 1,000 workers from Upper Egypt , the Brotherhood rushed relief supplies , only to have them blocked by the government . The first official reaction to the ship 's sinking , as I saw myself , was to send hundreds of riot police to Safaga . Government relief supplies arrived three days later .

In a country where the sheer mass of people sometimes overwhelms creaking government services , the Brotherhood has won praise for its ability to create order out of chaos .

`` What 's wrong with good organisation ? '' said Abdel Aziz Zaid , production manager at an industrial printing press in Cairo and Brotherhood member . He was keeping an eye on the turnout at the Mohamed Ali School in Sayida Zaynab . He smiled confidently as a steady flow of voters -- women to the left , men to the right-walked past him to cast their ballots .

`` When people see that we are well-organised now and were well-organised in the past , they will know we can use that organisation to achieve prosperity in the future , '' he said .

What men like Abdel Aziz Zaid call public service , critics shrug off as cynical , opportunistic stunts to win popular support . For Egypt 's impoverished millions , however , motives do n't matter . They need all the help they can get .

The Brotherhood is often accused of opportunism , but , if that 's the case , it 's chosen its opportunities wisely . During this year 's uprising , the Brotherhood kept a low profile , letting secular and leftist youth take the lead . When it became clear Mubarak 's days were numbered , the Brotherhood 's presence in Tahrir Square increased steadily . The group 's leaders cheered the fall of Mubarak but never took credit for it .

During the recent protests against the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces , the Brotherhood stayed on the sidelines . They condemned what they called police brutality , but also rejected calls for them to join the protests . They were bitterly criticized by the activists in Tahrir Square , who warned they would be punished at the ballot box .

But the people in Tahrir , not for the first time , misread the public mood . Many Egyptians I spoke with outside the Square said they were tired of demonstrations and clashes , wanted the elections to proceed , and wanted the country to settle down .

The large turnout for the first two days of voting , and the dwindling numbers in Tahrir Square , suggest that the Brotherhood once more played its cards well . Call it opportunism , call it clever politics . The result is the same .

I met 29-year-old Amna Abdel Aziz as she was going up to the stairs of a school to vote in Sayida Zaynab . `` I 'm going to vote for the Freedom and Justice Party ! '' she proclaimed loudly .

An office worker and mother of three , she listed her reasons for voting for the Brotherhood 's Party : `` If the Muslim Brotherhood run the country , they 'll fix everything - health , housing , jobs , girls who walk around with their hair uncovered , girls who walk around in the wrong clothing . God willing , they 'll fix everything . ''

Amna was wearing a headscarf , hijab , not the full face-covering niqab favoured by the ultra-conservatives , so I was a bit taken aback .

`` You mean , '' I asked , `` the Brotherhood will force women to wear the hijab ? ''

`` No , no , '' she responded . `` They 'll just convince them it 's better for them . ''

And that seems to be the attitude of many members and supporters of the Brotherhood -- that they 'll bring people over not by compulsion but rather by conviction and example .

It 's an attitude 27-year-old interior decorator Hind Mohamed vehemently rejects .

The Muslim Brothers , said the unveiled Hind , `` are just liars . They do n't do what they say . They use religion to convince people to vote for them . ''

Obviously they had n't convinced her . She was waiting in line to vote `` against the Muslim Brotherhood , '' she said .

The movement 's leaders are well aware that many Egyptians , especially Christians , liberals , leftists and others , are wary of their growing power . Senior Brotherhood leader Issam Al-Arian is quick to reassure them they are all partners in a new democratic Egypt .

`` They are our friends , our neighbours , our citizens , they are Egyptians as we -LSB- are -RSB- , and they have the same rights and duties , and nobody can deny that , '' he told me on the second day of voting . `` If they oppose us , they are participating in building this country , and are correcting our mistakes , if we commit a mistake . And this is very important for a democratic system . ''

A few years ago I interviewed Mahdi Akif , then the leader , or Supreme Guide , of the Muslim Brotherhood . Akif , a doctor , had worked in Germany but had also spent many years behind bars under Gamal Abdel Nasser , Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak . `` A long-term guest of the government , '' is how he described it with a chuckle .

Like so many Egyptians he had a sharp sense of humor . But the smile evaporated when he told me , `` We are a religion , a mission , a programme . I do n't care what the government thinks . What concerns me is that God is satisfied . ''

Rifaat Said , the wizened old leader of the leftist , secular Agama 's Party shared with me his concerns about the Brotherhood . `` So , if you are not with them , the Brotherhood , with God 's party , are you with the devil 's party ? ''

Said spent time in prison with the Brotherhood 's Akif , and knows him well . He does n't trust the group .

`` If God 's party reaches power , '' he asked me , `` who can move them away ? ''

`` God 's party '' is closer today to power in Egypt than it 's ever been .

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Muslim Brotherhood members had to endure decades of persecution by Egyptian authorities

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It has drawn wide support in Egypt during times of crisis when the government was seen as slow

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It was widely involved in the protests that led to the fall of Hosni Mubarak 's regime

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But it remained on sidelines during recent protests against the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces